I was searching through my Blu-ray collection a few days ago, and came across another Sam Raimi favorite of mine, Drag Me To Hell. As usual (which is a good thing), Sam Raimi takes a typical average day event, focusing on the average person, and then just totally goes crazy with it — taking the viewer along for a rather terrifying (but horrifically humorous) ride.

Raimi tends to selectively choose his actors for definitive performances. Justin Long is one of my favorite horror movie actors, and seeing David Paymer was also a treat, as he adds that Raimi Humor.

I suppose the reason why I like Raimi's films so much is because they have the storytelling quality of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Montague Rhodes James. These authors have a way of pulling the reader into the story with the character, provide a terrifying experience, but also suggest some sick humor in the thick of it all. Some might criticize me for comparing Raimi to these authors, but he does have a very unique way of presenting a horror movie, which none can match (and if they try, it's too obvious).

The Plot

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) is a loan officer who is up for an assistant manager promotion, but in order to prove her worthiness to the bank, she's gonna have to make some tough decisions. Competing with her for the promotion, is Stu Rubin (Reggie Lee), who is already becoming friends with Wilshire Pacific's Bank Manager, Mr. Jacks (David Paymer).

Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) is about to lose her home. She's behind on payments, and begs Christine to give her another extension. The bank has already given several extensions in the past, and it is time to tell Mrs. Ganush she must come up with the money today, or find another place to live. Dropping to her knees and making a scene in the bank in front of Christine, she doesn't take no for an answer, and is reluctantly dragged out of the bank.

At first, the situation may have appear to be resolved, but Mrs. Ganush follows Christine to the parking structure, and a violent confrontation ensues. Christine gets the upper hand, but not without the rather angry Gypsie putting a curse on Christine as she holds a button ripped from her coat. Apparently, this button is key to connecting the curse with its owner.

Eventually, Christine discovers she has only three days to have this rather wicked curse taken away, and seeks the help of Rham Jas (Dileep Rao). After a little bit of research, this particular curse raises a demon from hell to come after the person to whom the curse is put on...and to take their soul.

Packaging

Packaging for Drag Me To Hell (Unrated Director's Cut) came to me with a slipcover (with reflective elements in the artwork), and may not be available for everyone who purchase this movie. So, if you want the slipcover, you better buy this in-person. The Blu-ray case itself is a nice Elite 2-Discer, which holds the Blu-ray and DVD + Digital Copy disc. This particular Elite version does NOT have the very annoying flap on the right side which only closes partially, so this is a good thing.

Screencaps

Video

Drag Me To Hell (Unrated Director's Cut) looks very good, and only in some scenes where the director purposely manipulates images does the image quality vary. Still, a very sharp picture.

It appears as if the PG-13 (Theatrical Version) and the Unrated Director's Cut versions are completely separate from each other on the Blu-ray disc. This is interesting as the Director's Cut adds maybe 30-seconds to the movie. However, I actually prefer non-branched versions on Blu-ray discs so there aren't any hiccups in scenes. The only reason I took note of this, was because this is a BD-50 disc, and after looking at the structure of the disc, I found each version is independent, with about 4GB for the 35-minute featurette.

Drag Me To Hell (Unrated Director's Cut) is yet another successful Raimi release which does not fail to entertain. If you're a fan of Raimi, be sure to settle-in on the couch and especially take notice of The Parking Lot Fight, which is also featured in the making-of featurette. It's absolutely enjoyable to watch, and had to skip back a few times to watch it again. If we were still in the days of VHS, my tape would have been worn out by now.

I almost expected a sequel to DMTH because it's such a solid presentation and has a lot of room for extending the horror, but haven't seen anything yet, so it does appear as if there won't be anything. More than likely, Sam Raimi has his hands full with his most recent releases. In any case, this is a film you shouldn't miss and should add it to your horror collection.